Piper didn't know where they had come from, nor how they had arrived at her door without her noticing. They certainly hadn't been there when Ollie had left her the night before, exhilarated as much as exhausted from the revels at the Beltane Masquerade Ball. But when she opened her door the next morning, there they were ....a small pouch, and a soft teddy bear.
She'd gone downstairs and asked if anyone knew from whom they had come, but no one could tell her. An investigation of the pouch revealed a note, and a quantity of coins that left a guiltily touched impression.
Dear Miss,
I hope you and the child you carry have a wondrous life here, or wherever you pick to spend your lives. Please accept the coins in the pouch I've left you. Use them for the child and yourself. So he or she, has something upon their birth I've also left a simple teddy bear.
Be safe.
~Marek K.
She had no idea who this Marek K was, nor why he should want to help her in any way, but she could not help but be moved by the silent gesture of goodwill. The coins, she could not accept in good faith, being well enough off herself to be able to support whatever needs should occur, but the bear ....that was another matter.
It was brown, the fur soft and warm to the touch, the perfect size for little hands to hold. It's stuffing had given it a vaguely confused expression, which made her smile even as she found herself suppressing slightly inappropriate tears.
This place really was incredible, she thought, hugging the bear to her chest as she sat on the bed of her still spartan room in the Red Dragon. Barely two weeks here, and each time she thought she'd seen the best of the people, something new came at her to force a reassessment of the good-heartedness that seemed to fill the people she'd encountered.
Some of it was tangible, startling generosity from people she did not yet know as well as she would like. She smiled as her eyes fell on the bright orchid given to her by Eregor, hanging by her window; the beautiful amber and platinum brooch and bracelet given to her by masked strangers at the ball the night before, lying on the vanity beneath; the soft cuddly in her arms.
The intangible had come in the form of those who had answered her rather desperate cry for help; from Gustave, and Marc Franco, and Mark McKinney, men prepared to take her on without knowing a single thing about her. But the gift she had no words to describe was the one that had come in the form of Ollie Granger, and it was a debt she knew she could never repay. For the first time in months, her life looked hopeful.
She had not wanted to come to Rhy'Din, had been counting the days until she could leave until the bombshell of her pregnancy had been dropped on her by medical professionals. But now she wasn't so sure she did want to leave. What better place could there be for a child to grow up, than in a world where the people were so good and kind, so generous to a fault?
((Thank you to Marek Kharune for that lovely surprise, and for inspiring me to write this!))
She'd gone downstairs and asked if anyone knew from whom they had come, but no one could tell her. An investigation of the pouch revealed a note, and a quantity of coins that left a guiltily touched impression.
Dear Miss,
I hope you and the child you carry have a wondrous life here, or wherever you pick to spend your lives. Please accept the coins in the pouch I've left you. Use them for the child and yourself. So he or she, has something upon their birth I've also left a simple teddy bear.
Be safe.
~Marek K.
She had no idea who this Marek K was, nor why he should want to help her in any way, but she could not help but be moved by the silent gesture of goodwill. The coins, she could not accept in good faith, being well enough off herself to be able to support whatever needs should occur, but the bear ....that was another matter.
It was brown, the fur soft and warm to the touch, the perfect size for little hands to hold. It's stuffing had given it a vaguely confused expression, which made her smile even as she found herself suppressing slightly inappropriate tears.
This place really was incredible, she thought, hugging the bear to her chest as she sat on the bed of her still spartan room in the Red Dragon. Barely two weeks here, and each time she thought she'd seen the best of the people, something new came at her to force a reassessment of the good-heartedness that seemed to fill the people she'd encountered.
Some of it was tangible, startling generosity from people she did not yet know as well as she would like. She smiled as her eyes fell on the bright orchid given to her by Eregor, hanging by her window; the beautiful amber and platinum brooch and bracelet given to her by masked strangers at the ball the night before, lying on the vanity beneath; the soft cuddly in her arms.
The intangible had come in the form of those who had answered her rather desperate cry for help; from Gustave, and Marc Franco, and Mark McKinney, men prepared to take her on without knowing a single thing about her. But the gift she had no words to describe was the one that had come in the form of Ollie Granger, and it was a debt she knew she could never repay. For the first time in months, her life looked hopeful.
She had not wanted to come to Rhy'Din, had been counting the days until she could leave until the bombshell of her pregnancy had been dropped on her by medical professionals. But now she wasn't so sure she did want to leave. What better place could there be for a child to grow up, than in a world where the people were so good and kind, so generous to a fault?
((Thank you to Marek Kharune for that lovely surprise, and for inspiring me to write this!))